New Media Lecture Series: Fred Wilson

Fred Wilson (who earned his B.F.A. with Purchase College’s first graduating class in 1976) has created site-specific installations in collaboration with museums and cultural institutions throughout North America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. His work encourages viewers to reconsider social and historical narratives and raises critical questions about the politics of erasure and exclusion.

Beginning with the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed exhibition Mining the Museum (1992-93) at the Maryland Historical Society, Fred Wilson has juxtaposed and re-contextualized existing objects to create new installations, which alter their traditional meanings or interpretations. In 2003, Wilson represented the United States at the 50th Venice Biennale with the solo exhibition Fred Wilson: Speak of Me as I Am.

His many accolades include the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant (1999), amongst others.